You know, after all this time of following Jesus, I really shouldn’t be so surprised with Him. But alas, He keeps rocking my world.
I have completed a full month of Whole30 lifestyle (again) and couldn’t be more pleased. Probably the greatest revelation I’ve had in the last couple weeks was this thought: “I am so freaking busy right now. WHY did I decide to do Whole30?!?!” Which was immediately followed by:“I’ve needed more energy, contentment and legit-Jesus attitude more in the last month than I have in a very long time. I don’t NOT have time to keep this up!”
So glad I stuck with it, because between starting my doctorate program , still adjusting to parenting two tiny humans, hubby’s absolutely crazy work schedule #RangerInstructorProbs and me starting to work out sort-of hardcore again, eating right and focusing less on worshipping food/stress eating has been a blessing.
Month Ranking (1-10)
9
Has it been easy? Not always. Has it been worth it? YES.
Victories
Just as I have shared in Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3, the non-scale victories have been off the charts. Specifically: My clothes are fitting MUCH better post-pregnancy, my workouts are improving, joint pain is totally gone, apparently my face is thinner (according to a neighbor girlfriend of mine), I am WAY less of a jerk to my husband/kids (still not totally Jesus-level, but at least I’m pointed in the right direction), sleeping better, anxiety is down, and in moments of stress/pressure, I can clearly turn my thoughts to Jesus instead of freaking out or yelling etc.
Oh, and as far as a “scale” victory: I lost 9 pounds this month. And didn’t “have to” starve myself. (This is kind of a big deal for me, because my body rebels at all things weight loss, and I have never really lost weight on Whole30 before… But this time, I do have rather significant weight to lose per my pregnancy.)
Overall: HOORAY! Definitely feeling empowered and not so much deprived, which is always encouraging moving forward.
Almost forgot: I traveled to Washington, DC for “work” (aka, an event with Army Wife Network) for Memorial Day weekend and the entire trip I was able to stay almost 100% compliant. So yes, traveling on Whole30 CAN be done! #Merica
Struggles
I had a few sugar cravings this week– just like the “see-it-want-it” cravings… Might be due to stress since coming back from the trip, although quite an amazing blessing, was a little hard to get “caught up” on life, school, online work etc. I didn’t succumb to temptation and have continued to stay Whole30 compliant. Even with no-go foods in the house (Oreos, Doritos, Cheetos… Thanks Grandma and husband. Ha.)
Tweaks Moving Forward
As I mentioned in a previous blog, I have realized that I needed to simplify a little bit… This is not the season of life that I need to be experimenting with meals that require 86 ingredients and a ton of work. I have a handful of recipes that are tried/true and for me, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I add them into a rotation and eat them til I get tired… Then fold something else new in there.
Also, I have started to divide up my prep time over a couple days– instead of one 3 hr stint of intensity, I do about 60-90 min one day and 60-90 min the next (usually Friday and Saturday, because I need to chill out on Sunday.) Makes it pretty easy to face the week and also still parent. (Yesterday when doing food prep, I involved both the kiddos– Malick was in the high chair “supervising” and Charis helped me push the lever to chop veggies in my nifty veggie chopper. Only requirement was to say BOOMSHAKLAKA each time we pushed it down. And can you believe it? We enjoyed it.)
So yes my friends, it has been a fruit-full (pun intended) month– and I can’t wait to see what the next several weeks have in store for me.
Did you do Whole30? Scale of 1-10, how did it go? Can’t wait to hear all about it. Comment below and tune in again next week for a “fresh” recap.
Freedom in Christ AND from Food,
“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” ~Deuteronomy 8:3
